At Least I'll Be Able To Keep Warm In My Car After I Lose My House And My Retirement Money Is....

[global1]

gone. I guess there's a silver lining in the fact that the price of oil is dropping.

That will be about all I'll be able to afford - gas that is - as I wind up having to live in my car. At least I'll be able to keep a bit warm.

I thought the fact that we are less reliant on oil was a good thing. I thought we were moving to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels and on the road to alternate energy.

What the hell is going on? Somebody is getting rich off my retirement money that is being eroded by the whims of Wall Street. And just when I'm contemplating retiring in the middle of 2016.

[whatthehey]

1. Nobody's getting rich unless you sell

If you are that near retirement a good chunk of your portfolio should be in bonds or money markets which have less volatility. Liquidate those first. If you (and if you have an advisor them too which for their part is unforgivable) kept it all in equities all is not lost. You don't have to sell all your funds at the same time. Choose which ones to sell based on the best combination of losses and tax benefits as applicable. I doubt this bear market will be all that long or deep and the worst thing to do is panic.

[Orrex]

2. Can I rec that reply?

[A HERETIC I AM]

3. Go to Google Finance and bring up a one day chart for the DJIA

One day - AAAAAAHHH!!
Click one week
One week - AAAAAAHHH!!
Click one month
One month - AAAAAAHHH!!!!
Click 6 months
Six months - AAAAHH!
Click one year
One year - AAAHH!

Click 5 years
Five years - huh.....that's not so bad. Pretty good, actually

Click Max
Max - DAMN! That's pretty good!


Stop freaking out about short term ups and downs.

[frankieallen]

4. why is your money in stock if you plan to retire this year?

[B Calm]

5. Even if you retire, most people stay invested in income funds. That is especially true if your

money is invested in a tax deferred 401 k. By drawing your money in small amounts once a month you are only paying on capital gains instead of income. Capital gains tax is a lot less than income tax. You an be diversified all over the market and you will still be losing your ass in this market.

[yellowcanine]

6. If you don't keep at least some of your money in stocks you run out of money if you live a long time

As someone suggested, you can manage your investments so that distributions come from the fixed return side of your portfolio when stocks are down. You can rebalance the portfolio when the stocks go back up. I am keeping mine at 60% stock and 40% fixed return investments even after I retire. Anyone in good health should plan for at least 25 years in retirement. You have to have stock to keep up with inflation unless you really have a lot of money.

[yellowcanine]

7. Also don't forget that if you are still working you buy stock with every paycheck.

So when the stock market is down you get more stock for your money. Then when the stock market goes back up you make more gains. So you really did not lose any money from the downturn - in fact, you made money, unless you panicked and sold stock when it was low.